Raymond Francis Chappell (born 11 September 1942) is a former
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n politician. He was the
National Party member for
Northern Tablelands
The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...
in the
New South Wales Parliament
The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...
from 1987 to 1999, and served as a minister from 1993 to 1995.
Chappell was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, the son of Eric and Phyllis Chappell. He was educated in
Armidale
Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It ...
in New South Wales at De La Salle College, receiving his Leaving Certificate in 1959. He went on to
technical college
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
, and was an administration clerk at the
University of New England from 1960. On 1 February 1964 he married Annette Mary Napier, with whom he would have five children.
In 1968, Chappell was elected to
Armidale City Council, where he served until 1983. He left the university in 1977 to open a small retail business. During this period he became active in the
National Party, holding positions on the state and federal electorate councils. In 1987 he was preselected as the National candidate for the local state seat of
Northern Tablelands
The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...
after the local member,
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
's
Bill McCarthy, had died. Labor endorsed McCarthy's widow Thelma to contest the by-election, and in a tightly fought campaign Chappell emerged the victor with a small 2.5% margin.
A subsequent redistribution made Northern Tablelands notionally a National seat. He was comfortably reelected at the
1988 state election amid that year's decisive
Coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
victory,
actually winning enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences. He was reelected almost as easily in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
. In 1993 he was appointed Minister for Small Business and Regional Development, but he lost that position when Labor won office in 1995. In 1999, he was challenged for his seat by
Richard Torbay
George Richard Torbay (born 26 March 1961), an Australian politician, was an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands from 1999 to 2013. Torbay was the 30th Speaker of the New South Wales L ...
, a popular former mayor of Armidale who was running as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
. In a surprise result, Torbay defeated Chappell convincingly. Chappell lost 18 percent of his primary vote from 1995, taking 34.09% to Torbay's 44.15%. Ultimately, Torbay won with a two-party-preferred margin of 59.37%.
After his defeat Chappell retired from politics.
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chappell, Ray
1942 births
Living people
National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
People from Armidale